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“Hey Pidge, are you sure this matches Earth time?”
“Yes, Hunk, I double checked. Why?”
“Well, Lance’s Birthday is coming up.”
Coran paused at the controls, ears perking up slightly. He turned around enough so that he could see the Green and Yellow Paladins, Pidge sitting on her chair with her laptop perched on her crossed legs and Hunk standing next to her holding a tablet with the Paladins Earth-Time Calendar pulled up.
“And?” Pidge didn’t seem very interested in the piece of information about the even concerning the Blue Paladin. “We can do cake or something but there isn’t really a ton we can do in terms of planning a party.”
Hunk fiddled nervously with the tablet in his hands, “It’s just…he’s never had his birthday away from home before.”
Pidge snorted, glancing up from her computer, “Really? Come on Hunk, he’s got to have been away a few times.”
“Pidge, I am not even slightly exaggerating. Lance has never spent a single Birthday away from home.”
Pidge frowned and looked up. Coran also observed the Yellow Paladins face intently for any sign that his statement was anything but fact.
“Never?”
Hunk leaned in closer to the smaller human, “Not. One.” There wasn’t even a hint of anything but dead seriousness in Hunk’s voice.
Curiosity fully peeked, Coran stepped away from his place at the consol and joined the two humans. “Is it an Earth tradition to be with one’s family on the day of your birth?”
Pidge glanced up. “Uh, sometime? But I think Lance is a special case if he spent every single one with his family.”
“Birthday’s are a huge deal at his house,” Hunk explained. “Their basically a bigger deal then Christmas.”
Coran frowned, “…and is this Christ-Mass a big deal?”
“Oh yeah,” Pidge nodded before turning back to Hunk. “I get it, you want to give Lance a big birthday bash so he won’t be sad but I don’t really know what we can do in terms of a party.”
“I’ve been experimenting with recipes and I nearly have cake down. Kinda wish I could make some fried plantains. Lance loves those.”
Pidge shrugged, “Hey, you making cake. That’s pretty impressive.”
“Is cake part of the Birthday tradition?” Coran was very interested in the topic at hand, anything having to do with the human’s home planet was quite interesting to him.
“Yeah, it’s pretty much a staple.” Hunk said. “That and presents. But I have no clue want to give Lance.”
“What can you give him?” Pidge sighed. “Asteroid pieces? We’re in space after all and we’ve been banned from the Space Mall.”
Coran frowned thoughtfully as Pidge and Hunk continued to discuss the topic of presents.
This Birthday celebration seemed like quite a big deal and if it involved the up-beat Blue Paladin then Coran fully intended to partake in the festivities. And if gifts were traditional then he would have to find one.
But Coran really had no idea what Lance would like. Yes, he spent a good deal of time with the young human, but Lance was asking Coran about his life back on Altea rather then Coran asking about Earth.
It made Coran feel a bit guilty that he knew so little about Lance. All he had ever really learned was that Lance knew a second language and that he enjoyed….
“Number five, could you perhaps explain the environmental conditions to create rain on your planet?”
Pidge looked up at him with one of the most confused expressions he had ever seen on her face, “What?”
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“Lance my boy!”
Lance looked up from where he had been polishing Blue’s claws, “Oh, hey Coran. What’s up?”
Coran beamed brightly as he stopped next to where Lance was sat. “The planet below has a number of resources that could prove to be quite useful. I was hoping you could assist me in gathering them up.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Just let me grab my jacket.”
“Take your time! Meet me in the west hanger when you’re ready.”
Lance gave a thumbs up as he stood, “You got it.” He stretched his arms over his head as Coran left. Once the door to Blue’s hanger hissed shut Lance let his smile drop.
“Guess it’s better then moping,” Lance sighed as he put away the cleaning supplied.
Blue purred in his mind, offering him comfort.
“I’ll be okay girl,” Lance smiled and hugged Blue’s paw. “I mean, I got you and the team and Coran and Allura. Not like I’m all alone.”
Blue purred again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful.”
Lance made his way to the hanger, trying not to let his feet drag.
He had thought he would be fine that day, just another day in the life of a defender of the universe. But he had woken up that morning, or the Castle’s equivalent to morning anyway, expecting to be pounced on by at least three siblings shouting Happy Birthday in his ears. What he got was a cold, almost bear room and deafening silence.
It was a bit jarring to say the least.
Lance had pretty much dragged himself out of bed and into his day clothes. He almost didn’t notice that no one sounded the alarm for morning drills until he bumped into Shiro. The Black Paladin had said that they were taking a rest day before running off, leaving Lance to his own devices.
So Lance had gone to clean up Blue before Coran had invited him to go planet side.
When he entered the hanger, Coran waved him over to a shuttle, “Ready to move out?”
Lance nodded and did his best to flash a smile, “Sure thing my man.”
“Then let us be off!” Coran practically leaped into the ship.
Lance did his best to match the Altean’s energy as he settled into the passenger seat.
Coran began to talk excitedly as he started up the ship and steered it towards the planet below. Lance only half listened, nodding sometimes as he looked out the window.
He watched as the vast expanse of stars zipped by, the ship gave a groan as it entered the planets atmosphere.
“Nearly there my boy!”
Lance nodded as he watched the sky change to a more gray color. The suttle hummed as it started to slow, readying for a landing. Little droplets of water zipped by the window, pattering almost musically as they connected to the hull of…….
Lance sat up in his seat and rubbed his eyes, “Coran?”
“Yes?”
“Is….is that-?”
Coran chuckled, “Is this similar to the rain you are fond of?”
Lance felt his chest tighten slightly as the shuttle touched down. The second the hatch de-materialized Lance scrabbled out of his seat, hands open and palms up to catch the cold drops of water, “No…way…”
“Happy Day of Birth Lance!”
Lance laughed. Threw back his head and laughed, “How the heck did you manage this?!”
“Well, I heard Hunk mention that you were to be celebrating another year of life and it was tradition to give gifts. I asked Pidge to assist me in finding a planet that could create rain in the same way yours does. I’ll admit, Allura was a little tricky to convince on worm-holing here but she eventually-urk!”
Lance almost toppled the Altean over with a tackle hug, “Thank you so much! This is…this is amazing! This is the best gift I’ve ever gotten!” Lance could feel a slight burning sensation in his eyes but mentally blaming it on the rain fall.
Coran chuckled and patted Lance’s head, “It was my pleasure Lance.”
Lance’s grin widened and gave Coran another squeeze before dashing off into the downpour. He jumped around in puddles, spun and threw up his hands, whooped and hollered. He felt like a little kid again, care free and wild as a lion cub.
It didn’t take long for his breath to start coming out in heavy pants and his clothes to get thoroughly soaked through. He laughed and flopped down onto his back, letting rain fall into his mouth.
“I never want this moment to end.”
Lance heard Coran laugh and rolled over enough so he could beam up at the man.
“As much as I love seeing you so happy my boy, I fear we mustn’t stay to much longer. Wouldn’t want you getting sick after all!”
“Right, right,” Lance chuckled. Yes, he wanted to just sit there and enjoy the wet weather but he knew Coran was right.
He sat there for a few more moments, just breathing in the smell of rain, before getting up with a heavy sigh and walking back to the ship, “Thanks Coran. I really needed this.”
Coran smiled and playfully ruffled Lance’s wet hair, “Was nothing my boy.”
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Once they got back to the Castle Lance quickly went to his room to change, tossing his clothes into the weird little dryer thing in the corner of the bathroom to dry while he showered. Once he was clean and back in his clothes he headed for the kitchen, a bright smile on his face and a small bounce in his step.
He opened the door and was met by a loud, “SURPRISE!”
The sudden boom of the voices shouting in unison made Lance jump.
“Happy Birthday Lance!” Hunk wrapped said teen up into a bear hug while the rest of the team watched with hug smiles on their faces.
A blue frosted cake sat on the counter top with a few candles stuck on the top. The entire group was huddled around, even the mice sat next to it and jumped up and down excitedly.
Lance could feel the slight burn of tears again and he couldn’t blame rain this time, “You guys.”
Shiro smiled at him, “It’s another year where you’re in the universe Lance. I think we’re allowed to celebrate.”
“Yeah,” Keith agreed. “You’re kind of obnoxious but I really wouldn’t want anyone else in the Blue Lion.”
“Yes, it would be very quite around here without you.” Allura smiled.
“Plus, where would we be without our sharpshooter.” Pidge added with a smirk.
Lance felt like balling right there. “You guys are the best people a guy could ask for."